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From ComputerWorld: "Consumer rights groups have voiced opposition to legislation introduced in Congress last week that would require Internet broadcasters to deploy DRM technology to prevent listeners from making unauthorized copies of music files.

"Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, and three other senators introduced the Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music (Perform) Act Jan. 11 after the same piece of legislation failed to pass through Congress in 2006 [read previous RAIN coverage here]...

"But the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Public Knowledge oppose the legislation.  The bill would be a 'backdoor assault on your right to record off the radio,' the EFF said...

"The Perform Act would prohibit streaming music formats that don't use DRM, such as the MP3 format used on several Internet radio services, including Apple Inc.'s iTunes streaming radio stations, said Fred von Lohmann, senior intellectual property lawyer at EFF. The bill sets a 'bad precedent for our copyright laws,' von Lohmann wrote on the EFF blog...

"Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, said she agrees with parts of the bill that streamline music licensing fees. But the DRM provisions place limits on consumers, she said.

"'This bill looks to the past rather than to the future by limiting the ability of consumers to use material to which they have subscribed and by limiting future innovations in electronics,' Sohn wrote on the Public Knowledge Web site. 'It confuses a radio service, in which a consumer can only record what is currently being played, with a download service, in which consumers pick the material to download.'"

Read the entire article at ComputerWorld.

From Mediaweek: "An analyst report from Jessica Reif Cohen of Merrill Lynch last week had the media industry, particularly radio, buzzing that a deal between CBS and Google that would have Google selling some CBS ad inventory was imminent.

"According to Reif Cohen, the radio portion of a CBS-Google deal, (which is unlikely to happen as a stand-alone deal without online content), could include as much as $200 million of remnant radio ad time and attract smaller advertisers that haven’t used radio...

"Several radio groups, including Greater Media and Emmis Communications, have experimented with Google selling some of their inventory, and many, including CBS, are in ongoing discussions. But so far, no group has bit, leaving Google without a way to jump into traditional advertising...

"Also at issue is compensation for Google, which reportedly wants 50 %. Radio groups see commissions more in line with that of anational rep, somewhere south of 15 %."

Read the entire article at Mediaweek.

From the Digital Music Wire: "The Fraunhofer Institute, developers of the MP3 format, on Thursday introduced a new MP3 streaming surround sound format for standalone Internet radios.

"The module allows 5.1 channel surround sound to be streamed  to Web radio players. Fraunhofer said it will demonstrate a new WinAmp MP3 surround plug-in and a Flash-based radio application at the Midem music conference in Cannes, France."

Read the entire article at the Digital Media Wire.